Area sales on a strong streak

Though November marked an expected cooling in Southland home sales, numbers are still up from a year ago, a real estate information service reported. Analysts say sales should remain brisk for a while before any anticipated breather from the recent hot market materializes.

A total of 25,601 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in November. That was down 11.9% from 29,048 for October, and up 12.3% from 22,795 for November last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

A decline from October to November is normal for the season. So far this year 310,099 homes have been sold in Southern California, the strongest for the January-to-November period since 1989 when 313,103 were sold.

Sales levels were up most in the Inland Empire counties and in affordable neighborhoods elsewhere.

The median price that Southland buyers paid for a home was $288,000 last month, a record. That was up 3.6% from $278,000 for October, and up 21% from $238,000 for November last year. The year-over-year increase was the strongest since the late 1980s.